26/08/2026
Guyana will lead in agri-financing for farmers
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) recently brought together 70 representatives from governments, regional integration mechanisms, international cooperation agencies, development banks, financial institutions, the private sector, and family farming organisations from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on 18 and 19 August to identify conditions, instruments, and partnerships to transform productive opportunities into concrete investments and advance the scaling up of financing for agrifood systems.
The Caribbean region, especially Guyana, plays a strategic role in global food production and, at the same time, faces high exposure to climate risks. However, the financing reaching its agrifood systems remains insufficient and fragmented in relation to the magnitude of its challenges and opportunities.
โLatin America and the Caribbean is a global agrifood powerhouse, but 32 million people still suffer from hunger, and nearly 70% of food producers face barriers to accessing formal finance,โ said Rene Orellana Halkyer, FAO Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.
โWe have an opportunity and a shared responsibility: to transform the regionโs agrifood potential into concrete investments that strengthen food security, climate resilience, and rural development opportunities,โ he added.
One of the key features during the 2 days meeting was finding financial solutions for farmers across the region. Guyana has once again taken the lead in this regard with Governmentโs establishment of the Guyana Development Bank.
According to Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha during a recent interview, the Guyana Development Bank will be a game changer for agriculture in Guyana. It will provide farmers, young agri-entrepreneurs and other producers across Guyana with greater access to much-needed financing.
According to Mustapha, access to affordable financing has long been one of the major challenges confronting persons involved in agriculture, particularly small and medium-scale farmers seeking to expand production, purchase machinery and equipment, introduce modern technology or diversify their operations.
โWhat we will see with the Guyana Development Bank is that these people will be able to access loans without interest, without collateral, and they will repay that loan at the end of the crop when they harvest their paddy. They will have choices now to take their paddy to any miller who is paying a premium price," Mustapha noted.
Minister Mustapha said access to financing will become increasingly important as the sector expands and adopts more modern and technologically advanced methods of production.
He noted that the Government has already been making significant investments in infrastructure, drainage and irrigation, farm-to-market access, technology, research, livestock development, crop diversification and other areas.
The Guyana Development Bank, he said, will complement those interventions by helping producers secure the capital needed to take advantage of new opportunities being created within the sector.
Importantly, Minister Mustapha said the initiative also has tremendous potential to attract more young Guyanese to agriculture and transform the perception of the sector from traditional farming into a modern, technology-driven and profitable business.
